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Ausubel’s Learning Theory: Understanding Meaningful Learning

Ausubel's Learning Theory

Ausubel’s learning theory stresses the importance of relating new information with existing knowledge. According to the theory, meaningful learning occurs once the learners are able to make sense of and integrate new information into the existing knowledge structures.

Introduction

David Paul Ausubel was an American psychologist who made significant contributions to the fields of educational psychology, cognitive science, and science education learning, specifically through his research on meaningful learning and advance organizers. 

Influenced by Jean Piaget, Ausubel believed that understanding concepts, principles, and ideas is achieved through deductive reasoning, and he emphasized the importance of meaningful learning over rote memorization.

 In the preface to his book Educational Psychology: A Cognitive View, he wrote, 

“The most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows. Ascertain this and teach him accordingly”. 

Ausubel, 1968, p. vi

This led Ausubel to develop an interesting theory of meaningful learning and advance organizers.

Ausbel’s Learning Theory

Ausubel’s learning theory is based on the idea that new knowledge relies on what is already known. 

The construction of knowledge begins with our observation and recognition of events and objects through concepts we already have. We learn by constructing a network of concepts and adding to them.

Ausubel and Novak developed a useful instructional device called the concept map to represent the relationships between ideas, images, or words.

Ausubel also stresses the importance of reception rather than discovery learning and meaningful rather than rote learning. He declares that his theory applies only to reception learning in school settings. He did not say, however, that discovery learning doesn’t work, but rather that it is not as efficient.

Meaningful Learning

Ausubel’s theory also focuses on meaningful learning. According to his theory, to learn meaningfully, individuals must relate new knowledge to relevant concepts they already know. New knowledge must interact with the learner’s knowledge structure. 

Ausubel's Learning Theory (Meaningful vs Rote Learning)
Ausubel’s Learning Theory (Meaningful vs Rote Learning)
  • Meaningful learning involves recognition of the links between concepts and can be contrasted with rote learning, which may incorporate new information into the pre-existing knowledge structure, but without interaction. 
  • Rote memory is used to recall sequences of objects, such as phone numbers, but it is of no use to the learner in understanding the relationships between the objects.
  • Because meaningful learning involves recognizing the links between concepts, it has the privilege of being transferred to long-term memory. 
  • The most crucial element in meaningful learning is how the new information is integrated into the old knowledge structure. Accordingly, Ausubel believes that knowledge is hierarchically organized and new information is meaningful to the extent that it can be related to what is already known.

Advance Organizers

Ausubel advocates the use of advance organizers as a mechanism to help link new learning material with existing related ideas. Ausubel’s theory of advance organizers falls into two categories: comparative and expository.

Comparative Organizers

Comparative organizers are used as reminders to bring into working memory what may not be realized as relevant. They activate existing schemas and both integrate and discriminate. As Ausubel wrote, comparative organizers “integrate new ideas with basically similar concepts in cognitive structure, as well as increase discriminability between new and existing ideas which are essentially different but confusably similar” (Ausubel, 1968, p. 149).

For example, you can use comparative organizers to teach the “mammals”. To introduce the concept to your students, you could use a comparative organizer to help your students understand what distinguishes mammals from other types of animals.

The comparative organizer might look something like this:

CategoryExamples
MammalsDogs, cats, humans
BirdsEagles, penguins, canaries
FishTrout, salmon, goldfish
ReptilesSnakes, lizards, turtles
Comparative Organizers In Ausubel’s Learning Theory

By using a comparative organizer like this, you’re helping your students to understand the similarities and differences between different categories of animals.

In this case, the organizer highlights the common characteristics of mammals (warm-blooded, give birth to live young, etc.) and contrasts them with other types of animals. This can make it easier for students to remember the characteristics of mammals and to differentiate them from other types of animals.

Expository Organizers

Expository organizers are often used when the new learning material is unfamiliar to the learner. They relate what the learner already knows with the new and unfamiliar material to make it more plausible to the learner. It should be noted that the learner requires some scaffolding to link the new concepts to what they already know.

In English language teaching an example of an expository organizer would be when the teacher intends to teach new animal vocabulary.

The teacher may proceed by providing dividing the vocabulary into subtopics such as domestic animals, wild animals, and sea animals.

By using an expository organizer, learners can see the relationships between the different subtopics and the main topic, which can help them to better understand how the vocabulary is related.

Additionally, by organizing the information in this way, learners can more easily remember the new vocabulary and its associated details.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Ausubel’s learning theory provides valuable insights into how learners acquire knowledge and how educators can facilitate meaningful learning. Ausubel emphasizes that learning is not just a process of acquiring new information. It is rather a process of connecting new information with what learners already know.

Meaningful learning is achieved when new information is integrated into the learners’ knowledge structure, resulting in a lasting understanding of the material. Advance organizers, both comparative and expository, are valuable tools that educators can use to facilitate the learning process and promote meaningful learning.

For more on Ausubel see Wikipedia

References

  • Ausubel, D.P. (1960). The use of advance organizers in the learning and retention of meaningful verbal material. Journal of Educational Psychology, 51, 267-272.
  • Ausubel, D. (1963). The Psychology of Meaningful Verbal Learning. New York: Grune & Stratton.
  • Ausubel, D. (1978). In defense of advance organizers: A reply to the critics. Review of Educational Research, 48, 251-257.
  • Ausubel, D., Novak, J., & Hanesian, H. (1978). Educational Psychology: A Cognitive View (2nd Ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

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